Russia to send peacekeeping force to Sudan- Reports

MOSCOW, Feb 3, 2005 (AP) — President Vladimir Putin has signed a resolution to send forces to join the U.N. peacekeeping operation in Sudan , Russian news agencies reported Thursday.

The resolution calls for Russia to send Interior Ministry units to join the operation, the Interfax and ITAR-Tass news agencies reported. The Interior Ministry includes police and military-type units.

There was no immediate specification on what types of forces were envisioned for a Sudan mission.

Sudan ‘s government and rebels in the south signed a peace deal Jan. 9 to end the African nation’s long-running civil war and setting up a national power-sharing administration with an autonomous south.

The top U.N. envoy to Sudan said late last year that if a peace agreement were reached, he envisioned the adoption by the U.N. Security Council of a resolution in the third week of January authorizing a wide-ranging U.N. peacekeeping and peace-building mission, hopefully with 9,000 to 10,000 troops, but that has been delayed.